President Nicolas Sarkozy, was elected with 53,06% of the votes on May
6, 2007, appoints François Fillon as Prime Minister.
* * *
LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS
General or
legislative elections are held to choose the 577 deputies who sit in the
National Assembly; they are elected for a five-year term by direct universal
suffrage on the two-ballot, uninominal majority system. Each deputy represents
a constituency which may vary in size, but has on average 100,000 inhabitants.
First-past-the-post voting was introduced by General de Gaulle as an antidote
to the instability which had plagued the governments of the Fourth Republic
and which had been largely due to proportional representation. The proportional
system was brought back for the 1986 general election by the Socialist
government - which was seeking better representation for small political
groups - but the first-past-the-post system was reinstated for the 1988
elections and has been retained ever since.
The last general election, the thirteenth under the Fifth Republic, was held on 10 and 17 June 2007.
Deputies are elected on a two-ballot uninominal (first-past-the-post) system. To be elected, the candidate must obtain:
- In the first ballot, the absolute majority of votes cast, equal in number to 25% of registered voters;
- To stand in the second ballot, the candidate must have obtained a number of votes equal at least to 12.5% of registered voters. In the second ballot, a relative majority is enough to secure victory and whoever obtains the highest number of votes is elected; in the event of a tie, the older candidate wins.
Elections are held in all French constituencies, with each returning one deputy.
Becoming a Deputy
A candidate must be aged 23 years or over, of French nationality, have the right to vote and fulfil the eligibility requirements. The conditions that make a person ineligibleto stand for election or be elected concern the candidate’s personal situation (his/her property is under receivership, (s)he is deprived of civic rights, or has declared personal bankruptcy) and his/her office (Ombudsman, préfets, judges and prosecutors, top local government officials).
The Fifth Republic introduced the incompatibility of the duties of a Minister with the exercise of any parliamentary mandate.
This made it necessary to establish a system of alternates who may be required to replace deputies appointed members of the Government.
The duties of a deputy are also incompatible with those of a senator or MEP (this also applies to alternates).
Conducting the campaign
Political parties presenting candidates may campaign on radio and television. Before the first ballot, political parties and groups represented in the National Assembly are granted three hours of air time. It is divided into two equal parts, one for groups who are part of the Majority and the other for those who are not.
90 minutes of air time is granted before the second ballot. The year prior to the election, funds for financing the campaign are placed in special accounts that are managed by a financial trustee (a person or an association). Candidates’ campaign accounts record their income and spending, as well as any payment in kind given to them.
These campaign accounts are not allowed to be overdrawn and must be submitted to the National Campaign Accounts and Political Funding Commission two months after the election.
>p>Spending is capped: €38,000 in addition to €0.15 per person in the constituency. Businesses are not allowed to make campaign contributions and individual donations are capped. The State reimburses each candidate who has obtained over 5% of the votes cast for their campaign expenses (official leaflets, election posters on notice boards and voting papers). It also gives them a lump sum for actual expenditure, which may not exceed 50% of the cap on spending.
Role of Deputies
The main role of deputies is to take part in drafting legislation, both projets de loi, (government bills) and propositions de loi.
Deputies also have the power to monitor the Government’s action. This power is exercised in debates on the Government’s statements, oral and written questions, commissions of inquiry, Standing Committee investigations. Deputies can challenge the Government’s political responsibility: they can force the Government to resign by passing a motion of censure (no confidence) (Articles 49 and 50 of the Constitution).
During their term of office, deputies enjoy special protection, i.e. parliamentary immunity:
- from prosecution for votes and words spoken in the National Assembly
- from prosecution for offences not connected with parliamentary functions (except when deputies are caught committing an offense).
President of the National Assembly
The president is elected for the life of the parliament. As soon as the new parliament is elected, it spends the first session on electing the president (equivalent to speaker of the House). The first session is thus presided over by the oldest deputy, assisted by the six youngest deputies.
To be elected in one of the first two rounds of voting, the president must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast. If a third round is necessary (so far it never has been), a relative majority suffices.
The current president is Bernard Accoyer.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
The presidential
election is, of course, a major event in French political life, in which
the people make a sort of moral pact with a leader. The President is chosen
by direct universal suffrage for a five-year renewable term in a two-ballot
majority poll. Candidates must be sponsored by at least 500 national and/or
local elected representatives.
M.Nicolas SARKOZY : 53.06% (elected President of the Republic)
Ms. Ségolène ROYAL : 46.94%
2007 Presidential Election
Results
of the second round of the presidential elections (in French).
Results of the French vote
in the United States for the second round, May 5
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
Finally, European elections are held to elect the 87 French MEPs for
a five-year term by direct universal suffrage with voting by proportional
representation for national lists. Under the terms of the Treaty on European
Union, citizens of other European Union states resident in France may
vote for one of the French lists of candidates.
ELECTION CAMPAIGN
election campaign
during which there is an increase in political activity and debate. This
is the time when candidates meet the voters and present their programmes
and proposals. They have various ways of doing this: they can meet them
in markets, shopping centres or even the street and use the media (press,
radio and television), a platform widely available to them during election
campaigns. However, to ensure that candidates receive equal treatment,
the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (Higher Council for the Audiovisual
Sector - CSA), the public body which regulates the broadcast media, sees
that each candidate or political party is allotted an equivalent amount
of time by each radio station and television channel, on which political
advertising is prohibited. Finally, in the weeks preceding an election,
each voter receives an electoral envelope containing all the candidates'
statements and manifestos. In order to avoid the election outcome being
influenced by public opinion polls, which have become increasingly important
in French politics, their findings may not be published during the week
before a ballot.
Under the laws of 22 December 1990 and 19 January 1995 on the funding
of political parties and election campaigns, parties and committees formed
to support the various candidates are required to publish their campaign
accounts - which must balance - and must include in their reports all
expenditure on political communications. For a period of one year preceding
the date of the election, the current spending limit in presidential elections
is $16 million and for candidates present in the second round $21 million.
A ban on political advertising on commercial hoardings commences four
months before the official campaign opens. Restrictions have also been
placed on the funding of political parties: first, stringent ceilings
were imposed on the resources parties may hold, together with an obligation
to declare funds provided by businesses, industrial groups and private
donors, subsequently all funding of political parties by businesses became
illegal. The state reimburses a proportion of campaign expenses depending
on the results obtained in the election $180,000 for any presidential
candidate, plus 8% of the spending limit for these candidates and 36%
for those winning more than 5% of the votes in the first ballot). These
provisions are designed to make politics fairer by limiting expenditure
and waste and guaranteeing a degree of equity between the candidates.
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